Doomed: Why the current model of online advertising can’t survive

The current model of online advertising — based on the 3-headed monster of tracking, surveillance marketing, and ad tech — is unsustainable and will not survive. The forces against it are building and will shake up the advertising and marketing industries. Here is why it is doomed:

It is too abusive of consumer rights and personal privacy.

As of today, most people are not aware of how effectively the online ad industry is using questionable technology (ad tech) to track their every move. They are not aware that they are the targets of constant and unrelenting surveillance by the advertising and marketing industries. But over time this will change.

It is too laden with fraud and corruption and too wasteful of advertising dollars.

Ad fraud is currently responsible for many billions of dollars of criminal theft. The WFA (World Federation of Advertisers) says that within 8 years ad fraud may become the second largest source of criminal revenue in the world, after drug trafficking.

You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

The online ad industry has had a 10-year free ride in which its preposterous assertions and absurd metrics have been swallowed whole by a naive and enchanted advertising industry. Those days are coming to an end.